One of the things that I often hear clients say is, “I am hard to work with!” (clients often confuse themselves with their issues).
A client said that to me this morning, and my mind conjured up the metaphor of ‘The Constipated Client’, which goes like this:
“You (the client) are not hard to deal with, it’s the shit you are having to deal with that is hard."
I’m not going to claim that this is profound or even useful for most therapists, but you may find it helpful (for a client who has an intact sense of humour!)